After the first three batches my partner and I were ready to go into business but we tried to double brew to batches together. They were a extra pale ale, and a bavarian wheat the fermentation temps were between 60 and 72 degrees. We hit a hot spell and my basement got up to 78 for the first 48hours. Would this be enough to destroy the beer, turning it into an undrinkable mess.

before i got my "brew fridge" i had no choice but to ferment at whatever the ambient temp was, this would raise the temp of some of my brews to approx 85f. Law has it that this produces off flavours or yeast bite. I never experienced any of these problems and enjoyed every drop. I recently tried a beer brewed at over 80f some 7 months after bottling and it had just started to turn sour, but it has to be said that 4 weeks ago the beer was fine. Fermentation will race at these temps and your beer will be ready much sooner but it will have a limited shelf life, so drink young! Actually, now i think about it I did experience a slight off aroma in one beer, but it is only one in about 40 or more. Then again i'm sure many would say i'm wrong.